In our own humble opinion, They Might Be Giant's album Lincoln was the highlight of their career, but we seem to be in the minority since thousands of fans of the band crammed into The Vic Saturday night to hear the band recreate their commercial break-through Flood. Many mainstream fans may deride the band as nerd-rock, but that's a flawed view of a band whose catalog includes a dizzying amount of musical diversity that demands a high level of skill to recreate in a live setting. So yes, there were songs about dead presidents, existential birdhouses and shoe horns with teeth (sung by a duo of sock puppets, The Avatars), but the playful and ofttimes ridiculous lyrics were delivered by an amazingly tight band unafraid to change musical direction, sometimes mid-song. We entered the show somewhat stunned by the extreme dedication of the band's fans, but we left the venue understanding why those folks fell so in love with the talented duo of Johns Flansburgh and Linnell. Sure they're nerd-rock, but they are really kick-ass nerd-rock. more ›

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA... more ›

What Made Milwaukee Famous is the quirky kid with the dorky name in the back of the class whom no one notices until he gets his braces off, gets into MIT, and scores a summer internship with NASA. Kicking around the Austin scene since 2004, WMMF has put together a kind of indie-rock dream team: management through Fourth Floor, a division of powerhouse promoters Capitol Sports & Entertainment (Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits), booking through Monterey... more ›

We mentioned earlier that the Annuals show at Schubas tonight was one of our main shows to see this week. The band’s sound skips around from They Might Be Giants quirk before careening into impassioned indie-stylee wailing, keeping everyone listening on their toes. The music bounces and skims above the head of cliché, with the band evoking familiar reference points while ultimately staying true to themselves and creating their own signature. The group has been kind enough to offer us two free passes for tonight’s show, so enter after the jump for your chance to get in free with a guest ... but enter NOW since this contest closes at 5:00 p.m.! more ›

If you're heading down to sample all the tasty pre-cooked goodies at the Taste this weekend – Chicagoist once heard that pizza stand Bacino's starts prepping, and freezing, pies in January for the event – you may want to skip the food and just check out the free music acts at the Petrillo Band Shell instead. As with any Taste line-up, there are a fair number of uninteresting bands – in years past, that's included everyone from a past-their-prime Hootie & the Blowfish to the once-tolerable local mainstays Poi Dog Pondering. This year is no exception, with performances by not-bad-just-unspectacular musicians like Melissa Etheridge (tonight) and the Counting Crows (Sunday). more ›